Archive for the ‘The Theorizt’ tag

Fans of groundbreaking local hip-hop outfit The Theorizt caused a hell of a stir last month when the band announced it was cutting back on live shows for the foreseeable future. The hysteria boiled over, and soon fans were wondering if the New Year’s Eve show at Preservation Pub wouldn’t be the band’s final appearance.

Not so fast, says member Joseph “Black Atticus” Woods.

“It’s not literally out LAST show ever; it’s the last show for a while until we record another project and get some musicians that can get comfortable with our sound and pace,” Atticus told me in an email. “Everyone else has literally had one to two practices and before they know it, they’re on stage going full steam ahead with us. This hasn’t allowed us to recoup from Mike Miller going home to Boston and Nick Burkhalter joining the Air Force.

“I don’t care how good (a) guitarist (is); everyone needs time to grasp a sound and dig in, and with our live show schedule, there was no room or time for that to happen. So yeah … we’re looking to have the live show machine up and running, just at a more realistic pace.”

At the same time, Atticus added, the band members — new and old — have played so often of late that they’re wearing out the group’s catalog: “New blood (music wise) is needed. Also, our drummer and his wife are expecting a baby soon, so the slowing down of the live show aspect was inevitable. By all means, please let ‘em know that this is NOT our last show, but definitely the last one for a while.”

Last year’s Waynestock weekend was born out of tragedy — the death of Andrew Bledsoe, oldest son of long-time News Sentinel music writer Wayne Bledsoe.

The organizers — Tim and Susan Lee, Steve Wildsmith, Mic Harrison, Wil Wright and Jason Knight — didn’t know what to expect. All they knew was that a friend was in pain and a lot of mutual friends wanted to do something, anything, to help. And so a festival was born.

Over three days at Relix Variety Theatre in Downtown North Knoxville, musicians played and fans came, and the Bledsoe family received an outpouring of support. It was such a beautiful weekend, filled with love and music and community, that organizers knew almost immediately they wanted to do it again.

In November, tragedy once again struck the music community when Knoxville expatriate Phil Pollard died suddenly in his Virginia hometown. Although Phil departed Knoxville a few years back, the legacy he left behind — and continued to return to contribute to — is monumental in the local scene. Numerous groups benefited from his talent, and the local scene benefited from his whimsical, quirky, intellectual personality. Whenever Phil played, it was truly a show; music and art and some sort of zany magic all combined to make for nights of wonder, laughter and creative genius.

He left behind a wife and three daughters, and once again the East Tennessee music scene is being called upon to give back. Waynestock 2: For the Love of Phil will be a fundraiser for the educational fund of Phil’s three girls. It will be held again at Relix Variety Theatre, and in the same spirit as the original Waynestock, it will be three nights of love and light and remembrance and celebration, all for a good cause.

This year’s organizers also include Rusty Odom, editor/publisher of Blank News; and Wayne Bledsoe, the festival’s namesake. In putting together this year’s lineup, organizers wanted to maintain the spirit of community that permeated the original through inclusion of some of last year’s acts, while at the same time including as many of the acts with which Phil was associated as possible. The groups scheduled for Waynestock 2 will continue the Knoxville spirit of talent, grace and beauty of spirit that made the first festival such a weekend of magic, and organizers believe its connection to Phil and the people who loved him will make it every bit as successful.

Admission is $5 per night, and the music begins at 7 p.m. each night. Other activities are being planned around the weekend-long event, the details of which will be announced in the coming weeks.

It’s an opportunity for those who feel they’ve received so much to give back … a chance for remembrance and celebration … a time for musicians and fans of all genres, styles and types of music to come together and lift their hands in unity for a guy who’s spent his life uniting an amazing East Tennessee music scene through his words.

We hope you’ll join us. For more information, check out the website set up for this event — www.waynestock.org, and look for further releases and e-mail blasts as the event draws closer.